Reply To: Elections Aftermath: Was our 2019 Vote & the EU Referendum Rigged? #TORYRIG2019


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Kim Sanders-Fisher
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It would have been merciful if Boris Johnson had only secured a deal for averting the dystopian nightmare of crash-out Brexit, that was all most of us really wanted before the New Year deadline, but no, he remains determined to ramp up the stress and misery until he is ready to deliver his last ditch betrayal. After updating the House on the status of the leak investigation, there was nothing ‘merry as he rallied festive sentiments from the “whole House” to wish merry Christmas to Members of staff… armed forces in the UK and overseas…the emergency services, health and care workers…and all the other poor bastards working over the holiday, but he didn’t put it quite like that! Tory MP Michael Fabricant added to the festive wishes and then started ‘preeching’: “People must use common sense, of course: do not start hugging granny; do not go wild over Christmas…” he rambled on until the Speaker abruptly cut him off saying, “We’ve got the message!” Lindsey Hoyle was really going to miss that kill switch on the video link!

If only it were that easy to get the PM to ‘put a sock in it’ when he abused the occasion of Prime Minister’s Questions to deliver yet another delusional Party Political Broadcast to the TV audience, but today was to be no exception, “My hon. Friend is absolutely right. He is right in many ways, but right to stress the importance of people taking care this Christmas, because although some things are unquestionably going well, I am very pleased to tell the House that we have had a good start with the roll-out of the vaccination programme and in just seven days 108,000 people in England and 138,000 across the whole of the UK have received their first vaccination, we must remember that transmission takes place asymptomatically in so many cases: one in three people are currently asymptomatic with covid. That is why my hon. Friend is absolutely right that we should exercise extreme caution in the way we celebrate Christmas. We can celebrate it sensibly but we have to be extremely cautious in the way we behave.”

The PM was priming the British people to take full responsibility for his shambolic lockdown policy when it fails to stem the soaring death toll. Starmer said, “May I join the Prime Minister in his good wishes to all the staff, the armed forces and our emergency services, and thank you, Mr Speaker, and the House authorities for doing all that you have done this year to keep Parliament safe, and open, in challenging circumstances?” Futile prompting was never going to elicit even the slightest hint of regret from Johnson so why waste a crucial question, but he did it again! “Since this is, probably, the last PMQs of the year, I want to look at some of the decisions that the Prime Minister has made in the last 12 months. Let me start at the beginning of the pandemic, when images from hospitals in Italy and Spain were being shown on our televisions and the infection rates were rising in the UK. Does the Prime Minister now accept that his slowness to respond led to more deaths, a longer lockdown, and deeper economic damage?”

The PM’s reply was a predictable, “No, because at every stage we followed the scientific guidance, and continue to do so. The right hon. and learned Gentleman is right to draw attention to what is happening across the whole of Europe, and indeed there are spikes now taking place across the whole of the EU. Thanks to the tiering system that we have in place in large parts of the country, and thanks to the heroic efforts of the people of the north-west, the north-east and Yorkshire and the Humber, we are seeing those rates coming down. Yes, it is true that we have spikes now in some parts of London and the south-east, but we will make sure, with our adjustments to the tiering that we conduct over the next weeks, that we will address those issues. That is the right way forward for this country, and that is how we will defeat the virus, with vaccines, with community testing and with tough tiering.” The PMs multiple failures were nothing to crow about, but he had to maintain the façade of positivity despite the chaos.

Johnson took an extra dig, saying, “I think that what people would like to hear in this season of good will to all men is a little bit of support from the right hon. and learned Gentleman for what the Government are trying to do to beat coronavirus, and perhaps just a little less carping.” Starmer said, “If the Prime Minister will not listen to me, let me quote his own spending watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility. It said that the UK locked down later and for longer than some of its European neighbours and experienced a deeper fall and slower economic recovery. This is not bad luck. It is not inevitable. It is the result of the Prime Minister’s choices. But if the Prime Minister disagrees, perhaps he can tell us why Britain, the sixth-richest country in the world, with all our brilliant scientists and amazing NHS, ends the year with one of the highest numbers of covid deaths in Europe, over 64,000, each one leaving a grieving family, and the deepest recession of any major economy. Why does he think that has happened?”

It was another wasted question seeking remorse that would not be forthcoming as Johnson once again turned the tables trying to put Starmer on the spot by asking, “The House will have noted the slight change of tune in the right hon. and learned Gentleman’s criticisms of the UK’s performance. But perhaps he could tell me why the UK is the first to produce a viable treatment for coronavirus in the form of dexamethasone or the first country in the world to roll out a clinically tested stage 3 vaccine. This is a pandemic that has affected the whole of Europe, and this Government have continued to take the tough decisions necessary to beat it. If I may say so, without wishing to cast aspersions on the point of the view of the right hon. and learned Gentleman, I would take his criticisms of the UK Government’s decisions a little more seriously, frankly, if he had been able to decide last week, or the week before, whether he even supported the approach we were taking or opposed it. He could not do either: he abstained.”

The PM had Starmer on the defensive as he replied, “I said two weeks ago at this Dispatch Box that I was very concerned that tier 2 would not be strong enough to hold the virus. The Prime Minister said, ‘Don’t worry about that. Just support us. Throw away the problems.’ Two weeks later, what have we got? The virus rising in tier 2 and tier 3, and I will come back to that. If the Prime Minister thinks that the highest death numbers and the deepest recession is somehow delivering for the British people, he is a long way removed from the truth. The problem is that the Prime Minister makes the same mistakes over and over again.” Starmer is so completely absorbed with proving that he is right that he loses track of the objective in his rants; the tactic always fails.

Starmer continued, “Two weeks ago, he unveiled the latest covid plan. He told the House, as he has many times before, that his plan would suppress the virus, but the latest figures show the opposite. The Prime Minister talked about spikes here and there. Let me tell the House that in three out of four tier 2 areas, infections are going up. In over half of the tier 3 areas, infections are going up, exactly the concern that I put to the Prime Minister two weeks ago, when he said, ‘Just back us anyway.’ As a result, this morning 10 million people moved into tougher restrictions, exactly what we said would happen: areas going up the tiers. Does the Prime Minister not recognise that his latest plan has once again failed to control the virus and protect the NHS and our economy?” All to often Starmer wastes six questions on his futile ‘who’s a naughty boy’ strategy leaving backbench MPs to demand answers.

For the PM the pathetic rambling of Keir Starmer was tame opposition that rarely caused alarm. Johnson replied, “Once again, the right hon. and learned Gentleman criticises the Government’s plans without producing any kind of plan of his own, except I seem to remember that he was the mastermind author of the Labour firebreak in Wales. If we look at what is happening across the country, it is thanks to the efforts of the British people that we are seeing significant reductions in the virus in some of the areas where it was really surging. That is because of the hard work of the people of this country. We will, of course, continue to reflect that as we go forward with the tiering approach, and we will continue to roll out the vaccine and community testing. I think that his time would be better employed supporting those wonderful initiatives, supporting community testing, encouraging people to get a test and encouraging people to get a vaccine, rather than continually attacking what the NHS and the Government are trying to do.”

Again Starmer was defending his own conduct, saying, “I have encouraged everybody to have the vaccine every time I have stood up and talked about it. The Prime Minister is avoiding the issue. In some places, the infection rate has gone up 70% in the last seven days. Everybody knows that this is a problem. The Prime Minister is yet again pretending that it is not. Another major mistake of the last 12 months was losing public trust. We all know what the tipping point was: the 520-mile round trip to Barnard Castle and the humiliating way in which the Prime Minister and his Cabinet chose to defend it. Now we learn that, while the Prime Minister and the Chancellor are telling the armed forces, police officers, careworkers and firefighters that they will get a pay freeze, Dominic Cummings has been handed at least a £40,000 pay rise. How on earth does the Prime Minister justify that?” This was a real question that needed to be raised as it targeted the obscene disparity between Tory greed and their neglect of public needs.
Determined to ignore the question and move in a different direction Johnson responded, “The right hon. and learned Gentleman totally trivialises the efforts of the British people in getting the virus down. He says that none of the lockdown measures have worked. That is absolutely untrue. From 5 November to 3 December, the people of this country came together once again to get the virus under control, and they have made a huge amount of progress. We will continue with that tiering system, and we will get the virus down. That is the best way forward for this country. All he wants to do is to lock the whole country down, he is a one-club golfer; that is the only solution he has, and then, all he does is attack the economic consequences of lockdowns.”

Starmer needed to double down on his last question, “Mr Speaker, you could script that from October and November, when the Prime Minister was saying that a lockdown was the last thing the country needed and would be disastrous. Two weeks later, he put it on the table and voted for it, ridiculous! This is exactly the problem: not learning from mistakes. Obviously, we know that for Dominic Cummings, it was not performance- related pay. I think that the British people will find it pretty hard to understand why it is one rule for our key workers and another for his advisers.” An injustice of this magnitude had to be strongly emphasized, but would the press pick up on it or offer Johnson cover? “It is now likely that the next big mistake will be over the easing of restrictions over Christmas, and it is not smarmy lawyers saying this. Let me tell the House what the British Medical Journal has said. The British Medical Journal said yesterday: ‘we believe the government is about to blunder into another major error that will cost many lives’.”

Starmer got round to asking another question saying, “The Prime Minister should listen to that advice, not just ignore it as usual. If he really is going to press ahead with this, can he tell us what assessment has been done of the impact that it will have on infection rates and increased pressure on the NHS? What is the impact?” There were no impact assessments or if they existed they were to damning to share. So Johnson hit back with a demand for decisive action from the now entirely powerless opposition party, saying, “I wish the right hon. and learned Gentleman had had the guts just to say what he really wants to do, which is to cancel the plans people have made and cancel Christmas. That is really, I think, what he is driving at. He is looking a bit blank; I think that is what he is driving at.” He wanted to assign ‘the Grinch that stole Christmas’ title to Starmer, but the holiday wasn’t worth dying for!

Johnson’s attack diatribe rambled on… “But I can tell him that, as of today, just this morning, there is actually, as I say, unanimous agreement across the UK Government and across all the devolved Administrations, including members of all parties, including his own, that we should proceed, in principle, with the existing regulations, because we do not want to criminalise people’s long-made plans. We do think it is absolutely vital that people should at this very, very tricky time exercise a high degree of personal responsibility, especially when they come into contact with elderly people, and avoid contact with elderly people wherever possible. That is how, by being sensible and cautious, not by imposing endless lockdowns or cancelling Christmas, as he would appear to want to do, that is the only implication I can draw from what he has said, unless he wants to announce some other idea, we will continue to work together to keep this virus under control, to defeat it and take the country forward.”

Starmer ranted, “Here we go again: ignoring the medical advice, and we know where that leads, because we have seen what happened in the last nine months. Whatever the Prime Minister says, there is no escaping the brutal facts that Britain has one of the highest numbers of covid deaths in Europe and the worst economic damage. This is the last PMQs of the year, and I for one often wonder where the Prime Minister gets his advice from. Well, now I know, because I have here the official newsletter of the Wellingborough Conservative party. It is not on everyone’s Christmas reading list, but it is a fascinating read, because it gives a lot of advice to wannabe politicians. It says this: ‘say the first thing that comes into your head… It’ll probably be nonsense… You may get a bad headline, but, If you make enough dubious claims, fast enough’ you can get away with it. The December edition includes the advice: ‘Sometimes, it is better to give the WRONG answer at the RIGHT time, than the RIGHT answer at the WRONG time’.”

Starmer asked, “So my final question to the Prime Minister is this: is he the inspiration for the newsletter, or is he the author?” The PM started into his standard accusatory tirade, saying, “I think what the people of this country would love to hear from the right hon. and learned Gentleman in this season of good will is any kind of point of view at all on some of the key issues. This week, he could not make up his mind whether it was right for kids to be in school or not, and havering completely. He could not make up his mind last week whether or not to support what the Government were doing to fight covid, and told his troops, heroically, to abstain. He could not make up his mind about Brexit, we all seem to remember. We do not know whether he will vote for a deal or not.”

“He cannot attack the Government if he cannot come up with a view of his own. In the words of the song, ‘All I want for Christmas is’ a view, and it would be wonderful if he could produce one.” Dodging scrutiny the PM switched to PR spin, “This Government are getting on with delivering on the people’s priorities, with 20,000 more police, 50,000 more nurses, 48 new hospitals and, although it has been very tough and very difficult, and everybody appreciates the suffering and hardship that the people of this country have been going through, by rolling out the vaccine, by community testing and by tough tiering, which I hope the right hon. and learned Gentleman supports, we are going to defeat coronavirus and we are going to take this country forward into a great 2021.”

Tory MP Henry Smith said, “At the beginning of this year, the Prime Minister delivered the historic British people’s votes for Brexit. Regardless of the outcome of the current talks with the EU, does he agree with me that this great outward-looking nation has a world of global opportunities ahead of it?” The PM replied, “I thank my hon. Friend, who has campaigned nobly in that cause. As he knows, already we have not only set up a points-based immigration system, taking back control of our borders, but we will ensure that, and we have already done many free trade deals, we will use the economic advantages of Brexit, coming out of the European Union, to do free ports, to make this country the most attractive place for investment for business and for enterprise around the world and, above all, to resist the depredations of the socialists opposite, who would destroy that opportunity and do everything they possibly could to take us straight back into the lunar pull of the European Union, which is the true ambition of the right hon. and learned Member for Holborn and St Pancras (Keir Starmer).”

SNP Leader Ian Blackford after a few festive wishes turned to Brexit May, “I wish you, Mr Speaker, and all colleagues, staff, essential workers, health workers, and everyone in these nations all the best for Christmas? I hope everyone does their best to keep everybody safe. In the past few hours, the President of the European Commission has said that the next few days are going to be ‘decisive’ in the Brexit negotiations. With just two weeks to go, it is a disgrace that businesses and people have been left with that crippling uncertainty, and the real threat of food and medicine shortages come the new year. One year ago, at the general election, Scotland rejected this Prime Minister. It rejected this Tory Government, and it rejected their extreme Brexit. People in Scotland now need to know the price they will be forced to pay. Ahead of any vote in Parliament, will the Prime Minister commit to releasing a detailed economic impact assessment of the cost to the UK of his extreme Tory Brexit plans?”

The PM replied. “Notwithstanding the slight uncharacteristic air of gloom from the right hon. Gentleman, there is every opportunity. and hope I have, that our friends and partners across the channel will see sense and do a deal. All that takes is for them to understand that the UK has a natural right, like every other country, to want to be able to control its own laws and its own fishing grounds , I would have thought that would be important to the right hon. Gentleman. Whatever happens in the next few days, I know that this country will prosper mightily on the terms that we agree with our European friends, and whatever those terms may be, whether they are Australian or Canadian, he can go forward with a high heart and confidence into 2021, knowing that there are great opportunities for Scotland and the rest of the UK.”

Blackford responded, “I am not quite sure what that was, Mr Speaker, but it certainly wasn’t an answer to the question. I am not surprised, because the Prime Minister did not want to answer the question. He knows that the United Kingdom is poorer and worse off as a result of the extreme Tory Brexit, and the costs continue to soar. The Warwick study estimates that Scotland has already lost £4 billion as a result of Brexit, and Bloomberg Economics estimates that the UK will have lost £200 billion by the end of this year. Scottish Government analysis estimates that every person in Scotland will, on average, be worse off to the tune of £1,600. Scotland has been completely ignored by Westminster throughout the Brexit process, and we are now being kept in the dark over the devastating price that we will be forced to pay. People in Scotland are not willing to suffer the consequences of this economic vandalism, and 16 consecutive polls have shown a majority for independence, that is little wonder, Mr Speaker.”

Blackford then asked, “Is it not as clear as day that the only way left to protect Scotland’s interests and our place in Europe is for Scotland to become an independent country?” The PM Replied, “Again, despite the gloom that the right hon. Gentleman seeks to spread about Scotland and the rest of the UK, the UK currently has the highest youth employment in the G7, I could perhaps have made that point to the right hon. and learned Member for Holborn and St Pancras (Keir Starmer), and lower unemployment than France, Italy, Spain, the United States and Canada. There is a threat to the Scottish economy, sadly, and that is the high tax regime and mismanagement of the Scottish nationalist party. That is the problem that Scotland faces, and I hope that the people of Scotland can see it.” The Tories Sovereign Dictatorship will not include Scotland for very long. Why can’t the Brits rise up challenge the corrupt Tory rule, demand an Investigation into the Covert 2019 Rigged Election, expose the truth and Get The Tories Out! DO NOT MOVE ON!